Barastoc Interstate Teams

Queensland Polocrosse Association

The Queensland Polocrosse Association Inc (QPA) was formed in September 1957 with clubs from Cairns in the north to Goondiwindi in the south, Mt Isa in the west to the Gold Coast in the east. Today the QPA comprises 42 clubs across six zones; one of the largest playing communities in Australia with nearly 1,000 members. Two thousand kilometres separate the most northern club from the most southern.

QPA administers seasonal competition between the clubs throughout the state, culminating in the State Club Championships held annually, usually on the first weekend in September. An interzone championship is held bi-annually. Queensland Polocrosse also selects representative teams to compete in interstate and international competitions that are held annually.

At any given tournament you might find professional and business people, politicians, tradespeople, farmers and school teachers all competing and mixing together. Their common characteristics are a love of sport, horses and a competitive spirit.

Some players are content with weekend participation while others strive for representative honours. Polocrosse is a family sport played by people of all ages and abilities from juniors to veterans, beginners to experts. Often polocrosse tournaments are the main social outing for a family who travel, play and camp together.

Queensland has hosted many international test matches over the years including visiting teams such as the current world champions South Africa, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, New Guinea, the World Team against Australia in 1988, the inaugural Polocrosse World Cup at Morgan Park in Warwick in 2003, and the second Polocrosse World Cup at Morgan Park in Warwick in 2007.

Volunteers are vital to our organisation. Like many sports, the QPA relies heavily on its volunteer network who provide a valued service that makes a huge difference to many people’s lives. The management of their sport and the sporting, economic and social benefits brought about by its activities within rural communities depends on what volunteers can offer to encourage future growth.

Achievements

National Competition

2018 Winners: Open Women’s, Open Mixed and Intermediate Women’s competitions Runners-up: Open Men’s, Masters Men and Junior Mixed competitions.

In the Australian World Cup team there are two players from Queensland: Lauren Sillitoe and Beth Hafey of Tansey Club. Assistant coach Cameron Shepherd and Australian umpire Chris Franklin are also from Queensland. Queensland players have competed in all five Polocrosse World Cups held since 2003. Queensland’s Warwick Polocrosse Club will host the Polocrosse World Cup for the third time in Australia.

In the leadup to the selection of the Australian World Cup team, seven Queensland players were short-listed for the squad. Queenslanders Beth Hafey and Ryle Waugh played for Australia against Zambia in Zambia in 2018 as members of the Australian World Cup squad.

Over the years Queensland has had a large number of international players, coaches and umpires.

Polocrosse Association of NSW

While polocrosse is now played in eighteen countries by some 10,000 participants worldwide, it is an Australian-made sport, created in the Australian state of NSW.

NSW has the most players of any Australian state (even more than most other countries!). There are currently 1,200 players in 50 registered clubs in NSW. Buradoo and Yass Polocrosse Clubs in southern NSW are two of the oldest continuously-running clubs in the world.

While we don’t like to skite, it could be well argued that NSW is the most successful state in the game. Over the last decade, NSW has dominated the Australian Nationals competitions. In the 2012 and 2014 Nationals, of the 19 divisions contested, NSW stood on the podium 17 times. In the 2016 Nationals, NSW won 8 of the 10 divisions contested.

At the 2018 Nationals, NSW not only won best presented state, but was in all twelve of the finals, going onto winning seven. With the NSW men’s winning margin being 20 goals it is no surprise that all the men in the Australian World Cup Team are born, bred and play in NSW. Go, Blue!

Polocrosse Victoria

Polocrosse in Victoria has been played for over seventy years. We are a small state, but we have a very passionate polocrosse community who are committed to making our polocrosse bigger and better. We have two zones, twelve clubs, seven polocrosse grounds and around 250 members.

Our clubs hold outstanding tournaments from women’s, junior and mixed competitions; we have impeccable grounds and host great auctions.

From our small member numbers we were able to send six very competitive teams to the Australian Polocrosse Nationals in 2018. We are very proud of our players and the standard of polocrosse they played. Victoria looks forward to hosting the Australian Polocrosse Nationals in Ballarat in March 2020.

Interstate and National Achievements

Under 12s won the 2018 Nationals

Under 16 Boys and Under 21 Mixed made the 2018 Nationals finals

Many individual awards at the 2018 Nationals

Tristan Cooper playing in the Australia Junior Squad team at Narrabri for the past two years.

In the past 5 years we’ve had many players selected in the Polocrosse Association of Australia squads including but not limited to: Taylor Radford, Corey Buys, Kelly Allen, Sam Allen, Jarrod Martin, Steve Nolan.

Many successes at the 2018 Albury Junior classic.

Victorian players were selected to play in the South African High Goal tournament

Tom Jolly representing Australia in South Africa in 2016

Taylor Radford, Ike Murray and Mark McInnes played for Australia in the Under 21 Australia team in New Zealand.

Trafalgar Club hosted a nationally-recognised women’s competition in 2018